Thursday, July 27, 2017

Happy Thursday! It's a cool one here in the northeast, and in fact it's been a bit chilly and almost fall like this week. Crazy summer so far...

Well, I'm picking away at stuff this week but not too much to report. I will be taking a few days off next week so things won't really be picking up until mid August it looks like. However, lots of tools are in progress and so much is on the way.

Today I have a great big batch of red bronze Mini 5 Flute beads done. They have a warm red patina started on them and a crisp finish. These new Minis have quickly become my new favorite bead size and I'm really enjoying them on my camera bag zippers and pocket tools. Plain titanium Minis will be coming very soon too!

The red bronze Mini 5 Flutes will run $30 as usual and it's a fairly big batch so a limit of 4 per customer on them please...link to purchase is below. Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope your weekend ahead is a great one.

Friday, July 21, 2017

Happy Friday! I know much of the nation is sizzling today with the high temps but I hope all is well and you're gearing up for a relaxing weekend ahead.

Well I've been rather quiet lately, but I have certainly not been idle. I've been grinding my brains out and trying to move projects along. The belts have been turning madly and the tumblers have been running almost continuously for the past two weeks. And I have taken a few hours to fix up and clean my dusty and slightly disorganized shop, critically important work that has been long overdue. I'm planning on upgrading some of my lighting soon as well. All these changes are going to make it a lot more efficient and a healthier place to work.

I still haven't gotten the steel pins ground for the zirconium KingPins, but they are one of the next tasks in line. The Wroidy steel Wrunts are still languishing as well...however, steel Superbugs are well along towards finishing and just need a little more grinding before they are ready for heat treat. The titanium R37 Ruler tools are definitely happening and have just been cut, really looking forward to these... Krinkle titanium SAE Wrunts have also just been cut. I am waiting for some special stainless steel Wrunts to be cut next as well as a new steel Wroid thickness tool.

Beads are moving along nicely. I will be tying up and packaging titanium Mini 5 Flutes and then the bronze Mini 5 Flutes over the next few days. I also have anodized titanium Bermuda Beads with grinds completed and nearly ready to go. I also got the next spin coins prepped out further and they are waiting for stamps and other treatments.

Today I finally have the Zirconium K4 Keytons done! These have been sitting around for several months and it took a huge effort this week to get them through the many many steps to completion. Lots of grinding, tumbling, stamping, more tumbling, individual heat coloring and finally applying an oil finish. Ridiculously complicated and time consuming...It does feel good to get them finished at last and they look awesome.

These have a wide variety of grinds and stamps. They will run $95 plus shipping and it's a one per customer sale even though the batch is large, so that many folks will have a chance at them.

Thanks as always for stopping in today and I hope you all are staying cool this week!

Thursday, July 06, 2017

Hope you all had a great holiday weekend. It was a difficult one here with a variety of annoying petty health issues and one major family crisis which is still ongoing. Fingers crossed on that last part...

Well, not much has been getting done lately here, but I continue to limp along, picking away at things every day. Wrunts are still on the bench awaiting their finish grinds, Zr Kingpins still await their ground pins which are residing cozily next to the Wrunts. A bright spot is the steel Superbug17s which I did a bunch of prep work on yesterday. My goal is to get these three projects finished by the end of the month, and in the case of Wrunts and Superbugs, out to heat treat at least.

In other news, I continue to explore the R37 ruler series and it's looking like that project may go forward finally, but I'm still finalizing details and costs. I do have a final drawing though and I'm very pleased, so if all works out as I hope that will be a great project for the fall.

Today I finally have the first wave of "SlimFlutes", all new Mini 5 Flute beads, ready to go. Old timers may remember the original 5 flute beads which were quite small and had very shallow fluting. While I love the current 5 Flute design, they are fairly large beads and I was missing the older version, especially on zipper pulls. So this spring I worked up a revised design and dialed in the proportions to produce what I am now regarding as my own personal favorite fluted bead design.

The new Mini 5 Flutes are made of brass, bronze and titanium for now. I am waiting for the mill to produce more 1/2" Zr stock this summer and so hopefully can add those to the lineup at some point as well. There are no variations on these, all just straight up 5 flute beads. First up are the brass Minis and these have a cool antique finish on them.

Antique Brass Mini 5 Flutes will run $30 each and shipping is the usual $5-7 depending on how many you want. The batch is good sized so it's a limit of three per customer. Thanks for stopping by and I hope your summer is shaping up to be a great one!